Netherlands Indies : Stamps

Rod,

Apart from the notation in the Scott catalog, I haven't found much of detail regarding the Japanese occupaton overprints.

However, a quick skim of the paper Revolutionary Stamps of Indonesia 1945-1949 suggests that most of the stamps you've shown have overprints that were applied to Japanese occupation stamps by the revolutionary forces for use in Java and Sumatra.

The "T with a bar" is the standard Japanese pictogram for the post office.  Here's an image nabbed from Wikipedia of a Japanese post box.



Ryan

Sorry, Rodney, I somehow missed this thread when you initiated it.

This is an area I haven't ever done anything with other than accumulate them. However, the JSCA (Japanese Specialized) catalog does have a fairly extensive section on Japanese Occupation in the Netherlands Indies that runs for 32 pages. Unfortunately, it is entirely in Japanese, and I'll have to spend a little time with it to see if I can figure out this section and how your stamps fit into it.

But I'm also intrigued by the link(s) that Steve and Ryan posted to, and am anxious to download that, take a look, and see how it reconciles with the JSCA. It looks like that author has tried to reconcile the JSCA with Indonesian and other sources, and he may be more reliable than the Japanese catalog.

Ryan is also correct that that "T" with an extra lid on it is the symbol for the Japanese Post Office. (Or maybe was -- the new privatized corporation may have changed it, but I haven't really kept up with that.)

It will be a few days before I can sit down with this information and process it.

The one thing I can say now is that all the stamps but one do have the overprint (in katakana) for Sumatra. The one that doesn't is your file 7999, the middle one on the bottom row.

It looks like this is one of those areas where a lifetime or two might begin to cover the field, and I'm afraid I'm getting a late start!

-- Dave

P.S. I'd be happy to send you those JSCA pages if you'd like to have a go at it in the meantime.

Rodney, if you're unable to determine the info on your stamps from that downloadable catalogue, there might be more info contained in one of the catalogues I have.  Both of these books have sections for Java & Sumatra issues.  I haven't looked at them in detail to see if your issues are shown, however - what a mess, all these overprints!



Ryan

Rodney, I tried to spend a few minutes sorting through the Japanese catalog this morning, and I'm not much better-informed than I was before I started.

I was going to refer you to a specialist society, Dai Nippon, but their website is "suspended." Not sure what's up with that, because I had accessed it just a couple of weeks ago for another friend who's beginning to study this area.

Here is the link anyway:

www.dainippon.nl/

And here is a glimpse into what was there before the suspension:

archive.today/N4cEk

I'm hoping maybe just somebody forgot to pay the internet bill, rather than something more permanent.

There is also this society, which says they cover the colonies as well:

www.asnp1975.com/

I'm hoping Ryan also might be able to shed more light on these, once he has a chance to look at the Indonesia catalogs.

The only light I can shed is that the 6th stamp (purple) does not have a post-occupation/independence overprint, only the Japanese occupation one. (But I think you knew that anyway!)

-- Dave

Rod, that archive link just came up through a regular Google search, which then reminded me that such a capability exists.

But, as I said, the Dai Nippon (which means "Greater Japan", by the way, and are the first 3 kanji used on their stamps of that period) site was active maybe as recently as just a couple of weeks ago, so it's a curious situation. I looked to see if the APS had a link to that group in its database on specialty organizations, but they didn't.

But that is how I found the other Netherlands organization, which claims to cover the Japanese Occupation. All but the last 5 years of their publications are on their site for free, along with an index to most of the years. I did a quick glance and didn't see much that was on point on our current discussion, but a careful examination by you might unearth some nuggets.

All the best to you,

-- Dave

Hello 

There are some stamps I have from Netherlands Indies. If not the case, please correct me then :-) 

Interesting.
Now we just have to find the answer from the stamp dealer Mr. Hagedorn.

An interesting Netherlands Indies find with several August 1900 postmarks. Some questions for the forum in general: Does the Scott catalogue list postal cards and envelopes that have built-in stamps? Did most countries/colonies/authorities that issue postage stamps also issue cards and envelopes? In this case, the envelope as well as the Scott #31 stamp is an overprint. The script is a bit fancy; I interpret the letter's destination as Hanoi, in what is now Vietnam. The postmarks on the front suggest the cover was mailed on 7 August in (?)RAOUH. Postmarks on the back indicate it first went to Singapore, then to Hong Kong, then Haiphong, and finally reached Hanoi on the 18th.

Thanks rod222. Another look at the cancellation: I see "RAOUW" or possibly "RIOUW" with what I perceive to be a slightly "off" I. No clear "A" is seen, so I it might be. The Britannica free online map of the Dutch East Indies includes an area on Sumatra labelled "RIOU (RIOUW)," just opposite Singapore. Is there any information on when the 1885 Envelope might have had the "10" stamped over the 12 1/2? Would that be a surcharge?